What Chemicals Are Added To Your Drinking Water?

By Janet Parker , CEO & Co-Founder, zazen Water

Do you know what your drinking water actually contains?

Under a microscope and through chemical analysis we find up to 2000 harmful contaminants in our drinking water (yes that's right – our clean chemically chlorine treated / disinfected town drinking water) said to be some of the best in the world. Most people don't realise that the process of getting “safe drinking” water into our homes and offices is a complex chemical process, does that mean it is actually “ideal” for us to drink from a wellbeing perspective?

No it is not!

There are good things in your drinking water and bad things – which we explain below.

Ideally you want to keep the good things and get rid of the bad things that are health hazards and will impact your wellbeing.

So what are some of the bad things? A key health hazard (chemicals) created through the water treatment process in allmetropolitan (town) drinking water are called Chloroforms and THM’s (Trihalomethanes). Chlorine, is also in your drinking water which is also bad for you! It kills all your friendly gut bacteria!

Chloroforms and THM’s are created through the water treatment process when we use disinfectants such as Chlorine and/or Chloramine to kill deadly bugs (E.coli, Giardia and others), these bugs would make us very sick and potentially could be life threatening if we drank our water untreated. So water treatment is essential, however not enough!

What are Chloroforms & THM's?

They are a breed of deadly modern day man-made chemicals created as a bi-product of disinfecting (by chlorinating) our drinking water. They do need to be removed before you drink water as studies have shown they can cause cancer!

Chloroforms & THM’s are produced from a chemical reaction with the organic compounds naturally occurring in our disinfected drinking water (most of our drinking water is sourced from dams that gather the run off from farms, forests and rainfall before it is disinfected). The amount of organic matter (leaf litter, rust, dirt from broken water pipes and old pipes, bugs etc.) in tap water is essentially made up of decomposing vegetation, algae and dead parasites killed through the disinfectant (chlorination) water treatment process.

So what happens to this organic matter as it breaks down and is exposed to disinfectants such as Chlorine and Chloramine? Two key things happen.

The Good stuff - alkaline minerals are naturally released back into the water, which is the “good stuff" we need in water, many of these “alkaline minerals” are used by the body to aid in hydration – the purpose of water. So water isn’t just H20!

The Bad stuff - unfortunately, as this organic matter breaks down proteins are released from the dead carcasses of parasites living in the organic matter and are killed as part of the disinfectant process, when these proteins are exposed to Chlorine there is a reaction and this reaction causes this deadly family of modern day chemicals called THM’s / Chloroforms.

☠ DEAD BUGS release PROTEIN + CHLORINE = THM'S & CHLOROFORMS ☠

So what do you need to do… there are 2 key things you must do to ensure the water you drink actually supports your body’s wellness and longevity (cellular hydration) needs.

You must filter your drinking water! … otherwise your body is acting as the chemical filter and over time that can have signification health implications!

BUT that is only 50% of the answer – drinking clean filtered drinking water does not mean it is good for you!

You must ensure that your water has several other key properties so that the water you drink actually hydrates you and through that process assists to keep your body in balance, aids with an alkaline state, as well as helps reduce the heavy metal and toxin load in your body. All this supports you living a longer, healthier life.

Hydration with the right quality and quantity of water is foundational to any wellness and longevity strategy by assisting in the prevention of and recovery from disease and illness.